The Flawed Artist #1

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ANASTASIA ASTY

"My name is Anastasia, I’m an artist and a photographer. Right now I live in Moscow, Russia but I was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in a Russian family and lived there for about 8 years. From a very young age I knew that art is what I want to do in my life. I started with drawing and then found myself interested in photography; these are my two biggest passions. I’m trying to gain as much experience as I can, improve my work and learn something new everyday. Now I’m really focused on achieving goals in my career and becoming the person that I want to be."

My favourite quote is:

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"Always believe in yourself. No matter who's around you being negative or thrusting negative

energy at you, totally block it off. Because whatever you believe, you become."

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- Michael Jackson

Describe a flaw that you have, a trying time in your life or something you would change about yourself.

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I have quite a few flaws, but something that I would really like to change is the way I interact with people. I’ve always struggled with being really insecure and shy as a person, and for me it is really hard sometimes to communicate with people even though I do this constantly as part of my job; so it's something I’m hoping to change.

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What is your best memory?

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To be honest I don't think it's possible for me to choose one because I’ve had so many amazing moments in my life already. Most of my favourite memories are from my travels, I’m really thankful for all the times I got to see different parts of the world and got to learn something new about every culture. Travelling gives me so much inspiration for my art and I just couldn't imagine my life without it. So I think these moments I could call my best memories for sure.

What is your worst memory?

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​​I’m really lucky not to have a lot of bad memories. The only time of my life that I don’t like to remember is when I was younger and was bullied a lot which gave me so many insecurities, but in the end all of it made me a stronger person, and I’m glad that now I know how to deal with something better. I know so many people go through this, but you always need to be strong and know that everything will get better. Sometimes it gets extremely hard but you have to not let anyone break you no matter what.

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What has been one of the most defining moments in your life so far?

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Being able to let go of some people from my life, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but I just knew it was for the best. You might feel so passionate about someone while they might just not care at all. Realising what relationships are

really worth keeping is really something I’m glad I did.

What is the biggest lesson you learned from a mistake you made or a trying time in your life?

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Never let other people decide what you should do with your life, don't ever give up on your dreams despite someone’s opinion. I’ve learned that if you know your goals and you’ve always known what you want to do in your life, you can never depend on someone's opinion. Just work for your dreams and keep believing in yourself.

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What is the one thing people always misunderstand about you and why do you think this happens?

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Some people tend to think that I’m not going to be good at my work before even working with me. They often think this because I'm younger than other people who work in the industry and because my experience is not that great.

That’s what I'm faced with quite often.

What character traits do you possess that you would like to break and why?

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I’m never pleased with anything, regarding my artwork especially, it's really hard for me to exhibit something. Sometimes it gets too hard and kind of mad. I don’t want to get rid of this quality completely but I would like to learn to turn it down a bit. Often I can just throw away or delete or not share some of my work just because I’m not at least 85% happy about it, I tend to get really stressed about making everything better and better every time.

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What is your philosophy in life?

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Never stop learning. Treat others as you want to be treated. Work for your dreams.

What feels like love to you?

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I don't really know if I’m able to explain right. But being able to express myself through my art and in the process of creating become one with the piece that I’m making, I don’t have words to describe this, but the feelings I get are overwhelming.

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What cheers you up when you are down and why?

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A lot of small things can cheer me up and make me happy: listening to favorite songs, reading, walking around the city for example. I just try to find happiness in every single thing surrounding me and not concentrate my mind on something negative. Sometimes life gives you some challenges but I prefer not to get upset and instead do some little things that make me happy so that later I can come to a solution of some problem with a clear mind.

What do you think is the most important thing someone can do to improve themselves and why?

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I think just to keep learning everyday. Our whole life is the process of learning and I think it's exactly what makes our life worthwhile. There are so many things you can educate yourself about.

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What is the last thing you have done that’s really worth remembering?

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The last thing I did that totally worth remembering for me is shooting my first video project. I’ve always been interested in making videos and short films and I’m really happy to start finding out more about it and hopefully become better in this.

Are you holding onto something that you need to let go of and if so what is stopping you?

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I was holding onto some old memories for a long time, but I realized that it’s pointless for me and I need to live in the present and not think like; what if something from the past didn't happen.

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What have you given up on and why?

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I’ve finally given up on trying to please everyone, not being myself just because someone won't be accepting. You can't get everyone to like you and you don't owe anything to anyone, just like others don't owe anything to you.